OC | 6
Churcherians during COVID In a year like no other in living history, Old Churcherians from various walks of life share their experiences during a global pandemic…
New job, new rules Alice Ballard (16) graduated in the Summer of 2019 and hadn’t been in her job very long when the pandemic struck… The day I knew that the pandemic was very serious was the day I looked out from my office in March, which looks over Borough Market in London, and the road was empty. There was not a single person grabbing a bite to eat from the market or in line to one of the many coffee shops. This was very unusual for the area and my day got even stranger on the tube home when the carriage was almost empty. As an Interior Architect at Featherstone, specialising in workplace and commercial design, I knew that the job was going to change drastically when the government announced a work from home order. As someone who designs offices for a living, this was scary news! There were a few weeks when I thought that my industry would not exist as I knew it anymore, people initially were enjoying
working from home and removing the commute was very attractive for most. As someone who has studied wellbeing design and has a passion for making people’s working life enjoyable, I knew working from home was not going to be healthy for a lot of people in the long run. Being at the beginning of my career, I could not imagine doing my job without the social and collaborative benefits of working by my team’s side, so we decided to help get workplaces safe again. Featherstone reached out to past, current, and new clients to see how we could help them get staff back in the office with COVID-safe measures implemented. Health and safety were our main concerns and knowing how difficult some people were finding working from home, including myself, was a big incentive to help. We reconfigured spaces, implemented one-way systems and ensured clients were given distance while working. It felt good to be able to adapt our skill set to the current issues and to be able to help where we could.
Now, I believe my job has changed forever. When speaking to clients, it warms my heart to hear how much emphasis is being put on making staff happy. The aim now is to make the office a destination, we understand that some of the ‘head-down’ working can be done at home, but you need somewhere to collaborate and work agilely. I have been working on bringing the luxuries and home-comforts of working from home back to the office. I have educated myself even further on how important happiness is for a successful working environment and how we can push the norms of what design is known for. I think people understand the importance of their environment since working from home, and how a large chapter of our lives is spent in our careers so let’s make it enjoyable! The main thing I’ve learnt is to prioritise your health, both mentally and physically and to reach out to family and friends to see how they are doing too.
